Had a county exhibition last night. It took place in Georgia so you can figure there was a fair amount of heat. The whole line had control issues because of sweaty hands. Many times my sticks were about to just go sailing out of my hands. It was frustrating.

Anybody got some do-it-yourself methods of reducing or eliminating perspiration of the hands?

I learned from a tabla clinic that if you put rubbing alcohol on your hands and then put baby powder on them, it keeps them pretty dry. You can try doing that or just wiping your hands every time you can get a break and dealin' with it.

Rosin bags, like the ones baseball pitchers use. You can pick 'em up at any sporting goods store for just a couple of bucks and they'll keep your hands nice & dry.

What exactly are rosin bags?

Last marching season I actually put Mitchum Roll-On on my hands. It worked pretty good. It was a source of comic relief for everyone too.

Rosin bags are pretty much sacks filled with talc, or some other powder to resist perspiration. Pitchers use them to keep the ball under control.

I dont know what kind of product would help, but if you ever have this silence in the music where your hands are close to your shirt or anything, try and whipe it off, without it seeming so noticable.

I like the rosin bags idea. I'm gonna look into that.

I was definitely wiping my hands off at any point i could, to no avail. We hyrdate ourselves so much prior to performing in the heat and in uniform, the sweat just keeps gushing.

We tape our sticks all the way down to the butt, which probably didn't help...but the tape is to keep the sticks from getting water/sweat logged anyway so i guess it served its intended purpose.

Thanks for the help.

Our line used jsut medical almost guaze tape and it works like a good grip when it is wet

We use sweat bands just inside the sleeve of our uniform tops, so that they keep our hands dry, but they aren't noticeable.

how do sweatbands keep your hands dry? i never understood that

I can't see how wristbands would help unless you've got streams of sweat running down your arms. I guess they could be something to wipe your hands on, but you shouldn't be breaking to wipe your hands.

The only real use I get from wristbands is to wrap 'em over the end of the jacket sleeve to keep the butt of the stick from getting caught in an open sleeve.

Sports tape is a good remedy to this solution. I as well have experienced major sweat issues on full-taped sticks. Sports tape is good because it has a sort of fabric feel to it with lots of grip surface. also i noticed that sweat from the hands actually draws out the sticky material from the tape, so not only does it keep it from slipping, but it makes your hand somewhat sticky for that extra grip without hindering technique whatsoever. It works very well, i got my entire line to use it. i highly recommend it.

If you tape your sticks with anything that's not smooth (like a fabric tape), watch out for blisters. If you practice on your own a lot or rehearse with a competitive line for hours on end every day, you could definitely lose some skin with some kinds of tape. I don't know what kind of "sports tape" you're referring to, but I know the stuff I used to use on baseball bats would rip my hands to shreds if I had it on my sticks for drum corps rehearsals.

sweat bands are the easiest way. you cant really use a rosin bag in the middle of a show =]

You shouldn't be using ANYTHING in the middle of a show. (Don't break. Ever. Not even between songs.) Use a rosin bag every few hours if necessary.

Actually dog poo is a good solution. Mix it in with gold bond foot powder and water. JUST KIDDING.
The Gold Bond works really well though. Your hands just have to be sweaty or wet when you put it on. It really works. But the rosin bag things would pretty much be the same thing.

Just don't drink water, and you won't sweat.

lawl jay kay

snugglebunny of sweat that gets on your hands when it's hot out actually does come from your arms. This is why sweat bands work well in most cases. Gold bond works for chafing in the sensitive areas, but I don't know how it would work on the hands. Probably similar to rosin bags.

put deoderant on your hands

I wouldn't recommend putting deoderant on your hands. Or anti-perspirant, unless a doctor OK's it. a REAL doctor. Not your local WebMed Doc.

Goldbond reduces the wetness, which is a cause of chafing. Mix water with salt and two elastic, possibly hairy surfaces, and you get heat friction which will in turn cause a painful rash, and if bad enough, can lead to skin tearing and bleeding. I've seen it happen to some Drill Instructor's in the Marines. Those guys will NOT stop, whether or not there's blood dripping down their thighs from chafing.

But back to my main point . . . Goldbond is good for hand sweating

The sports tape idea works very well. Your hands get used to the nasty chafing effect after awhile.

Deodorant's are for smelling nice.

Anti-perspirants clog the sweat glands and turn sweat into a sort of sticky gel in which sweat cannot be excreted. Drumming and anti-perspirant? Not a good idea.

As for the doctor thing, I was under the impression some anti-perspirants had adverse health effects. After a bit of personal research, I think there's not much of an effect on health, longterm or short term, that I can see.

But yeah, I stick to what I said about not using anti-perspirant/deodorant on the hands. It's nasty. Someone will shake your hand and come to realize it's covered in a thick, sticky substance.

Stick to stuff like talcum powder. goldbond is king.

I DID see some links for hand anti-perspirant during my research, but I wouldn't look too into it. Just seems like another shady scheme to get gullible people to buy crap they don't need.

Personally I use those chalky bags that bowlers use, works well enough for me.